Creepy Tale (Nintendo Switch) Review

Creepy Tale has something of an elephant in the room for anyone familiar with the John Kenn Mortensen's work. The art design and general aesthetic are extremely reminiscent of his style. While Mortensen is given an "Inspired By" credit, it's important to acknowledge how this does not suggest his fingerprint on the game. This goes beyond stylistic imitation, with the central monsters in-game more or less ripped from Mortensen's Sticky Fingers. Where does the line between homage and plagiarism end?

What's particularly disappointing about this cloudy Mortensen connection is how the art direction will look to an unaware eye. Character models are expressive, the monster design is creepy, and there's just enough softness to the world design where the harsh and morbid gore stands out all the more striking. The first time the player character falls to his death and is impaled is genuinely jarring, but it's memorable in all the right ways. To the unaware eye, that is. Regardless, designing an independent work's aesthetic in the style of a living, still working artist is never not unprofessional

Art theft aside, the sound direction is top notch. The story opts to forgo a script in every sense, and the end result in a focus on ambience. And for what it's worth, visual design for puzzle solving is well implemented and often clever. Players are asked to interact with the world in increasingly creative ways, with the horror continuously amplified by the sound design. There are no jump scares, but the music keeps a tense mood steady throughout - almost a Grimms' Fairy Tale given life.

Gameplay is also paced well, with puzzles flowing in and out of one another seamlessly. Stealth is prioritized (never in the same way across set pieces), but death isn't punishing. Like most modern indie games, players respawn before major gameplay sections with no consequences. There's a nice flow to progression in turn, but this in itself leads to another glaring flaw: length. The main play-through is insultingly short, with veteran puzzle-solvers capable of blasting through the story in under an hour.

Short indie games aren't unusual, and can even be good, but Creepy Tale never builds up to anything. It introduces gameplay mechanics and puzzle solving concepts that fail to evolve due to a limited play time. The best puzzles make conscious use of their difficulty curve, and three very short chapters of gameplay aren't enough to flesh ideas out. The full play-through feels more like a prologue to a larger adventure altogether. There's nothing rewarding about solving an easy puzzle in record time. Coupled with the Mortensen dilemma, and it becomes very difficult to appreciate the genuine good in Creepy Tale.